A participant in last year's CIBER Case Challenge pours through information on a laptop computer during the international case competition.

Business undergraduates from schools as far away as Singapore and New Zealand will join students from universities in Canada and the United States to compete in the 2006 CIBER Case Challenge, Wednesday, Nov. 1 to Friday, Nov. 3.

Hosted by Fisher’s International Programs Office and Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), the business case competition is organized by Fisher undergraduate students in coordination with faculty and staff. This is the third year the college has hosted the event.

Teams of students from 12 colleges and universities will retreat to rooms at the Blackwell Inn for a grueling 24 hours to analyze an international business case and prepare a solution for presentation. The business problem is kept secret from competitors until the start of the competition on Thursday morning.

All 12 teams will present to a panel of judges during the preliminary round on Friday. The final round will take place in the afternoon. Judging will be conducted by international business scholars and executives that include alumni and corporate partners from major multinational corporations locally and across the country.

When Hollywood celebrities distribute photographs of their newborn to the media, the intended effect may have been to divert hordes of paparazzi jockeying to snap images of private moments to sell to the tabloids.

A Fisher professor who studies the accounting practices of companies said some firms may employ this Hollywood tactic when disclosing sensitive information to third-parties such as analysts and the media.

Anil Arya, the John J. Gerlach Chair of Accounting, along with Fisher alumnus Brian Mittendorf, now on the faculty at Yale’s School of Management, concluded in their study that public companies’ controlled release of “proprietary information” to key financial and securities analysts may be a similar effort to influence perceptions about their firms to competitors by creating herd behavior among third-parties.

“The firm directs the herd in a more subtle fashion: by disclosing some pertinent information publicly, the firm convinces each information provider that any further digging is not worthwhile,” the authors reported in their article, “Using Disclosure to Influence Herd Behavior and Alter Competition,” published in the Journal of Accounting and Economics last fall. Read More»

Ian Ricketts (left), director of customer supply chain management for Unilever, talks with a student during the Fisher Fall Career Fair on Oct. 18. In addition to searching for internship candidates, Unilever invited students to meet with its vice president of logistics, Bob Nardone, later in the day.

This year’s career fair attracted 130 companies in search of students for jobs and internships during the two-day event.

Non-profits leaders hone business skills
at Social Enterprise TrainingWith tightening budgets and intense competition for the consumers’ dollar, the difference between non-profit organizations and business watching their profit margins is vanishing.

To help get a handle on the business aspect of running a community organization Executive Education hosted the Social Enterprise Program in Oct. 17 . Board members and chairs from 39 Ohio non-profit groups, learned about effective leadership, branding, strategic thinking and finance during the all-day event. Participating groups included Children's Hunger Alliance, Junior Achievement of Central Ohio, YWCA Columbus and the OSU Alumni Association.

Tony Rucci

Tony Rucci, senior lecturer in management and former executive officer for three Fortune 100 companies, dispelled any notion that non-profit organizations are any different than ventures interested in making money.

Instead of shareholders, the pay-off affects the very customers the organizations reach out to, he said. The training program was designed to help the leaders of those organizations think more like corporations.

One of the program participates was Darryl Lee, director of After School All Stars, a group that provides middle-school students in Columbus with a safe environment provide to participate in academic, athletic, technological and cultural programs.

"It's a new day in non-profit because you got have to raise money and think strategically when planning," Lee said. "You've got to have the right product, the right message and the right person to go out and talk to companies that allocate money for ventures like ours."

In addition to lectures from faculty other members, presentations were given by students from FisherServes, Fisher Board Fellows and the undergraduate Honors Cohort class on their outreach to non-profit organizations.

MAcc student Eric Weber awarded national accounting scholarshipFor the second year in a row a Fisher MAcc student was awarded the highly competitive American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) national scholarship.

Eric Weber

Eric Weber was one of 10 graduate students nationwide to receive the John L. Carey Scholarship. The scholarship provides financial assistance to students with bachelor degrees in liberal arts who are pursing graduate studies in accounting.

Weber graduated magna cum laude in 2002 from Ohio State with a bachelor in atmospheric sciences.

Weber earned a commission as a naval officer through Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Fla. As a naval officer, Weber served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and earned two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

“While on active duty I completed several introductory accounting classes via the internet and decided that I would like to pursue a Master of Accounting degree,” Weber said. Upon being honorably discharged from the Navy, Weber completed Fisher’s accelerated Pre-MAcc course and was admitted to the MAcc program this year.

The scheduled keynote speaker will be Carol A. Christobek, manager of Business Process Redesign at Ashland, Inc. Christobek will discuss the successes and challenges of her career in operations management.

She leads the global implementation of continuous improvement processes at Ashland. Her responsibilities include supporting the implementation of Ashland’s corporate process centering effort.

The event is sponsored by the Center for Operational Excellence, the Undergraduate Business Women's Association, Graduate Women In Business and the Operations & Logistics Management Association.

Hobbies: "I’m busy with three young daughters, ages 11, 7 and 4, and active in St. Francis de Sales Parish in Newark. I enjoy camping and boating, and a week at Nags Head, N.C. every summer, entertaining family and friends for Buckeye football at my home and watching one of my daughters play softball. I plan to start volunteer work when children get a little older."

FisherLure: "I love working at Fisher because of the great sense of pride and it’s a part of the big picture of Ohio State, which is wonderful to be a part of too. The Fisher work environment impresses me and it’s more fun to work here as the rankings climb and we know we are all a part of that."

Oct. 24
Carolyn Rospierski and Jeremy Sampsell, human resources managers from Exxon-Mobil and Fisher graduates, will speak to members of the Graduate Human Resources Association from 5 to 6 p.m. in 375 Gerlach Hall. More information is available at http://fisherrsvp.student-hub.com/

Oct. 26
The Procter and Gamble Marketing Competition Kick-Off will be held from 3:30 to 8 p.m. The event will begin with a case introduction, brand management and marketing discussions. Each team will then prepare a presentation for company executives to judge the following day. More information is available at http://fisherrsvp.student-hub.com/

Oct. 27
Executives from General Electric will share with students the importance of workplace equality as a part of the Diversity Speaker Series from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in 305 Gerlach Hall. The series is presented by Out In Business in association with the college of engineering. More information is available online at http://fisherrsvp.student-hub.com/

Chuck Bramlage, president of Europe, Middle East and Africa operations for Valeant Pharmaceuticals International will talk about global awareness during a lunch presented by the International Programs Office from 1 to 2 p.m. in 375 Gerlach Hall. More information is available online at http://fisherrsvp.student-hub.com/

Oct. 31
James D. Schrim, principal and co-founder of American Diversified Real Estate (ADR), will talk about his career and the ADR business model during the Fisher Real Estate Society Speaker Series from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. in 305 Gerlach Hall. More information on the lunch is available online at http://fisherrsvp.student-hub.com/

Robyn Bueltel, senior brand manager for Eagle Family Foods and Fisher alum, will discuss new product development during a lunch session sponsored by the MBA Marketing Association from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in 275 Gerlach Hall. More information is available online at http://fisherrsvp.student-hub.com/

Nov. 4
Teams from the Big Ten schools will come to campus to compete in the first Fisher Biz Quiz National Challenge sponsored by Nationwide and The Wall Street Journal.

Competitors will start with a written test and then will take part in a quiz show format at 9 a.m. in Schoenbaum Hall. The final round will start at 11:30 a.m. Schoenbaum Hall. More information is available online at http://fisher.osu. edu

Black MBA Association presents tailgate The Black MBA Association is hosting a tailgate event prior to this Saturday’s game against Indiana. The event is a chance to grab a bite to eat as well as network with other students, faculty and staff. The tailgate gets started at 10 a.m. in the St. John Arena parking lot.

Staff Career Development Grants available
Grants of up to $500 each are awarded annually to offset education and training costs needed to further staff career goals and professional development.

Grants are awarded to regular full-time or part-time staff with at least two years of continuous employment with Ohio State by Jan. 1, 2007. The application deadline is Monday, Oct. 30. Applications are available online at http://hr.osu.edu/

Bucks for Charity drive underway
The annual Community Charitable Drive (Bucks for Charity) started last week with the distribution of booklets and pre-printed donation forms.

This year a variety of deserving organizations appear in the booklet. Donations can be made to any of the organizations in the book and you can specify organizations that are not listed as well.

Last year, the college achieved its goal of nearly $90,000.00. This year the bar has been raised by 25 percent, to keep with the university’s higher overall goal.

Pledge forms can be submitted to Arnon E. Reichers in 720 Fisher Hall, Jay Yutzey in 120 Schoenbaum Hall or to Bucks for Charity coordinator in your department office. More information is available online at http://hr.osu.edu/

Bill Raabe, senior accounting lecturer, was quoted in the October issue of Kiplinger magazine about saving plans designed to pay for college tuition.

Raabe said because of changes to tax laws the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act has become an irrelevant way to save for college.

Michael Knemeyer, assistant professor of logistics, was quoted in the Oct. 1 edition of the Columbus Dispatch on the boost to the region’s rail system.

He told the paper that Columbus is a good location for a distribution hub and is becoming more attractive to corporations.

Neeli Bendapudi, associate professor of marketing, was quoted in the Oct. 6 edition of the Columbus Dispatch on the offering of checks adorned with the logo and colors of high school sports teams.

Bendapudi said the checks are a broader trend of companies trying to turn their products into a commodity.

Fisher News is published bi-weekly throughout the academic year. To submit story ideas, e-mail content and your contact information tofishernews@cob.osu.edu or use the online news submission form. The deadline for story submissions is 5 p.m. the Friday before the upcoming issue.

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